Job Discussion Forums

[GeminiTiger]

This term is coming up quickly and I'm supposed to teach 5 sections of writing to sophomores and juniors. I enlisted here as an oral English teacher, but last term despite my pleas I got suckered into teaching writing and now they want me to teach it again.

To be blunt, I was teaching writing in a way that I think I could seriously improve on I would like to look back on this term as something less then wasting 4 months of my life, I would like to do the best job possible given "the situation".

I have a BA degree, but my spelling and grammar is mediocre, I especially am clueless about rules of grammar and technical jargon. Last term I gave several writing assignments and papers that I corrected and returned them and did some in class correction. That was OK, but it required a lot out of class work on my part. I need to diversify.

For materials I have a small book, one that I have currently misplaced.. anyways it about 100 pages and written in Chinglish. I hate it. I also have a business writing book for 2 sections, it's much bigger and I hate it just as much.

I am wondering what people have done with this course in the past. I would if possible actually like to teach them as much as I can, but I am also not willing to double my working hours to do it. At my old schools Chinese teachers always took this course and it's been a long time since I was in junior high grammar class.. I am at a loss.

I find internet resources quite limited on this subject, I could really use some helpful pointers, advice or simply a few links to research.

[AussieGuyInChina]

Ideas for the Writing Lessons

Week 1

Writing Basics - Write simple sentences about the past, present & future.

Writing Basics 2 - Sentence order and paragraphs.

Week 2

Factual Writing - a 150 word biography of father or mother.

Opinion Writing - a 150 word essay giving an opinion about the role of women in Chinese society.

Week 3

Factual Writing - a 150 word essay about China.

Opinion Writing - a 150 word essay about your own future.

Week 4

Informal Writing - A 150 word letter to your best friend in your hometown
telling him / her all about studying at XXX College

Formal Writing - A 150 word letter to XXX College complaining about your accommodation.

Week 5

Reasons & Examples - A 200 word opinion essay about why China is a good
holiday destination for foreigners.

Summarizing - Read about an endangered species and write a 150 word summary.

Week 6

Sequencing - Time order (1)

For and against - Write a 300 word essay for and against studying in Australia.

Week 7

Explaining - Write a 200 word explanation of your favourite TV advertisement.

Sequencing - Time order (2)

Week 8

Summarizing - Write a summary of graphical information provided.

Comparisons - Write a 200 word essay about the differences between the life of
a Chinese boy and the life of a Chinese girl.

Week 9

Cause and effect - Write a 300 word essay explaining the causes and effects of
being obese.

Opinion Writing - Write a 300 word essay about a controversial topic such as;
capital punishment, abortion, homosexual marriage

Week 10

Sequencing - Importance order : Write a list of instructions about how to do
something

Comparisons - Write a 300 word essay comparing studying in China with studying
in Australia.

Week 11

Explaining - Write a 300 word essay explaining a traditional Chinese wedding
ceremony

Factual Writing - Write a newspaper style article about Monash College

Week 12

Summarizing - Research a medicine or medical technology and write a summary explaining its purpose, history and development

For and against - X

Week 13

Cause and effect - Write a 300 word essay explaining the causes and effects of
pollution.

Opinion Writing - Write a 300 word essay giving your opinion as to whether smoking
should be banned in indoor public places such as restaurants,
shopping malls, bars, hotels, etc.

Week 14

- Revision & Exams

[Leon Purvis]

Too much of what you ask for can be copied from books and the internet. What I recommend is that you make everything personal for them. It worked for my classes. It helped them to create original and (sometimes) provocative statements.

1. Describe the happiest/saddest/most memorable day of your life.

2, What are your fears?

3. Who has had the most profound influence upon your life?

4. Should Dhofu be proclaimed China's official food? Why or why not?

5. Situation (girls): You want to marry an unemployed rock and roll musician. Explain why it is a good idea for you and try to anticipate your parents' objection.

6. Situation (boys): You have met an older woman and you want to marry her. She has a daughter who is older than you are. Explain to your parents why this is a good idea.

I am assuming that you are teaching college level. If not, I think that keeping the topic personal will elicit a lot more originality and interest them much more than vanilla prompts.

[arioch36]

Leon

[Leon Purvis]

arioch36,

I also teach writing using a five-6 paragraph essay as a guide. Students are encouraged to use the transitional elements in the essays. I believe in the modeling concept for teaching writing-- especially for efl. The task of addressing possible objections makes them think. This is one of the steps in writing argumentative essays. For expository writing, they're not required to include this step, unless, of course, their essay is actually argumentative in nature.

And I agree that the more specific the assignment and the tighter the guidelines, the better writers they will become. I believe that the students actually appreciate the strictures. I've found that most Chinese students (and even college-level American students) can't handle assignments that give them too much leeway. They'll either copy from an outside source or freak out because they have no guidelines because they've always been told exactly what to do.

In the case of the American students, the behavior is a result of lack of experience in reading different genre; in the case of the Chinese student, the behavior results from an inability to deal with self-expression.

One thing which you may try in class is to give the class the opportunity to create an exquisite corpse. Initially, the exquisite corpse was a game played by post-impressionist artists whereby a piece of paper was folded into four quadrants. Each artist was allowed to draw in one quadrant --to the edge of the adjoining quadrant--without the benefit of seeing what the other artists had drawn. After all four artists were finished, the paper was opened, and the resulting artwork was revealed.

In writing an exquisite corpse, the teacher merely begins a story by introducing one or more characters in three or four paragraphs, then leaves space for the students to write in. In the next part is a simple transition for the students to create a twist in the plot.

I created about ten of these and I hand them out whenever the class seems burned out or tired of being yakked at. The students begin the story, writing one or two sentences, then pass the paper along to another student (or group of students) who adds his own idea to the story and passes it on to another. If you have at least ten different stories circulating in the class, the class stays busy, either composing or looking up words to use in the story.

The students are encouraged to be as creative or as strange as they want to be. Depending upon the direction of the stories, the class may seem to be in hilarious mayhem, or studious thought. This is always a hit with writing class. I believe that most students get a lot out of this activity.

Arioch36, I noticed that unless I made oral arguments very specific, I'd hear the same arguments-- word-for-word class after class. Hence, I made very specific guidelines for the assigned oral arguments. I often interrupted the oral arguments to ask questions.

At first, this freaked the students out, but they realized that memorization just wasn't enough to do well in my class.